Anti-Slavers of the Wildlands Expeditionary Guild IC

[masteraleph]

Thorn's attack goes just wide. She shifts one square down into the Beetle's space.

Spoiler: between turn stuff

Show

*If the Beetle makes a melee attack against Thorn and misses, Thorn uses Disciplined Counter.
(1d20+12)[19] vs AC, dealing (1d4+4)[7] Lightning damage and the Beetle grants CA until the end of Thorn's next turn.

*If the Beetle provokes an OA, Thorn makes an MBA:

(1d20+11)[26] vs. AC, dealing (1d4+7)[11] Lightning damage and sliding the Beetle one to the left.

[Rakaydos]

Draj continues to beat on the beetle from a safe distance.

Spoiler: OOc

Show

MBA: (d20+10)[28] vs AC
Damage: (d6+5)[8] untyped.

[TurboGhast]

The beetle appears to have not learned that attempting to shoot spittle leaves it open, as it trying to do so again gives Thorn and Asjara the opening they need to finish it off.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'm just going to use DM fiat to turn Asjara's OA into a hit because the beetle only had 6 HP left after Thorn's OA, which means that Asjara hitting at minimum damage is still lethal. The party would have to be quite unlucky to not finish it off next turn, and the beetle on its own is not enough of a threat to justify running another battle turn.

With the last threat eliminated, you're free to take a short rest and examine the room further.

[ahyangyi]

Asjara looks around to make sure the enemies are all fallen. She still looks furious, as signified by the furious wind swirling around her, and her crystalline hair's bright glow.

Gradually, and also with the help of magical healing (OOC: haven't happened yet, but you are going to heal, right?), she calms down.

She then asks the other party members, “These monsters are not only out of place, but also with elemental powers that they don't normally have. As if... some one had done experiments on them?”

She then turns to Draj, the only one with arcane knowledge in the party, “Have you heard about any spell or ritual that can accomplish this?”

[Rakaydos]

Spoiler: Skill rolls

Show

Arcana: (d20+16)[23]
Nature: (d20+8)[10]
Dungeoneering:(d20+8)[24]
Religion:(d20+11)[25]

[TurboGhast]

Although he hasn't heard of arcane magic that would give animals elemental powers, Draj has heard reports of animals gaining similar ones after being exposed to energy from the Elemental Chaos for a long time.

The animals aren't necessarily out of place. Monstrous beetles are known to live in the Suda Desert, and it's possible that this room connects to a cave system that would suit the vipers more.

[Archemist]

SSana||ona chirps twice, as a kind of cheer. "Wow," he adds, "You folks are quite competent. I will try to help heal you as I can if you've been injured." He rests for a bit, but seems entirely uninjured himself, and resumes looking around the room quickly..

Spoiler: OOC - healing

Show

Let me know if I should make rolls or if you'd just like to spend surges as per normal. If somebody is kinda in the half-a-surge zone SSana||ona can use the encounter bard power to give you a surge+4 hp.

He doesn't seem to care about the snakes but he does pat the shell of one of the beetles and say wistfully, "A shame."

[ahyangyi]

Asjara's face blushes, which means a bluish pink hue on her cheeks: she should have thought of an elemental chaos origin. "Yeah, Elemental Chaos is also a possible explanation... and hopefully a more benign one."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Yes, Asjara is about 1.5 surges away from full health, so +4 is welcome.

After a short rest, Asjara searches the room to see if there's anything interesting.

[TurboGhast]

Closer examination of furniture strewn about the room shows more marks of long term decay. The wood comprising the beds and tables has been severely rotten for at least a few decades. They don't appear to be hiding any additional secrets.

The wall across from the table the snakes were hiding in is rather cracked. The cracks are large enough for the snakes to have slithered through them, and looking into them shows faint hints of a more open space on the other side of the wall. The room you're in would still be generally okay even if that wall collapsed, as only that wall is cracked.

Out of everything in the room, the well is the most intact. While the bucket and rope are missing, the stone core of the well shows only minor damage. However, the inside walls have become rough and rocky. A wide gash opens about 50ft down opens into a cavern. However, you can't get a good look into that cavern from up here. 20ft below that gash (70ft below your current position), you can see a layer of igneous rock sealing the well shut.

[ahyangyi]

Asjara tries to insert the sunrod through the cracks to see more clearly what's behind the wall.

[TurboGhast]

Bringing the Sunrod closer shows more hints of a cavern on the other side of the wall. Specifically, you can see that the floor of the room you're in extends past the crack and into the area on the other side of the wall. The bit of the cavern's wall you can see though the cracks looks natural, and is slanted in a way that implies that the cavern opens up in the direction of the well.

[ahyangyi]

Asjara asks the other party members, "it seems that the room behind the cracks are connected to the cavern in the well... I propose we crack open the wall by throwing at it."

Asjara then waves the warhammer in her hand, which seems to her be an appropriate thing to throw on the wall.

[ahyangyi]

Asjara looks around the room to find if there are stone items or big rocks that can be thrown at the wall.

[TurboGhast]

While the tables and beds wouldn’t work well due to the decay they’ve undergone, there are some rocks broken off of the damaged section itself that could be used for throwing.

[masteraleph]

"If you need any help lifting and carrying those stones, let me know. I can't help so much with the breaking, though- I'm pretty strong, but don't have much mass."

[Archemist]

SSana||ona gives it an exploratory punch with his claw.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

(1d20+9)[20] for (1d8+3)[7]

[ahyangyi]

"Let's stay away from the wall in case it collapses and hits you", Asjara suggests, and tries to throw a rock from about 10 feet away at the wall.

[TurboGhast]

SSana||ona gives it an exploratory punch with his claw.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

[roll0] for [roll1]

The exploratory punch only slightly expands the cracks already found in the wall, and leaves Ssana||ona’s claw a little sore.

"Let's stay away from the wall in case it collapses and hits you", Asjara suggests, and tries to throw a rock from about 10 feet away at the wall.

The cracks expand more, but the wall section remains generally effective. To break through, you’ll probably need to use more force.

[ahyangyi]

(Does it look like a few more strikes won't help, despite the cracks expend a little with each strike?)

As a last attempt at breaking the wall by brute force, Asjara flies temporarily at the wall, smashes it with her hammer, then immediately makes a U-turn in the air and retreat in case the wall collapses.

[TurboGhast]

The wall vibrates a little from the impact, but continues to hold. It looks like you could break through with just a little more force than your body alone can impart, so a small force multiplier would probably let you through.

[ahyangyi]

Asjara asks other party members, "I need your help in breaking this wall."

[Archemist]

SSana||ona snaps out of his temporary reverie and says, "Surely, let us break it together." He looks ready to just strike it again with his fists, in concert with the others. Unless someone suggests a different plan.

[TurboGhast]

Your synchronized ram lets you bust through the wall with only negligible damage to yourselves and the rest of the room.

With a clear view of the cavern on the other side, you can see that the hints you were getting from the cracks are correct. The natural cavern on the other side of the wall extends quite deep into the earth, and past the edge of your sunrod's vision.

Spoiler: For those with normal vision

Show

The cave descends fairly quickly and smoothly. At the very edge of your vision, you can see some moss, which supports the idea that the snakes were from this cave rather than the desert.

Spoiler: For those with low-light vision

Show

The cave descends fairly quickly and smoothly. You can see quite a bit of moss where the light starts getting dim, which supports the idea that the snakes were from this cave rather than the desert. The moss is thriving, but some of the moss further back has been stained odd colors.

[ahyangyi]

"It seems that the elemental snakes came from this cave... that, and the well, and the moss. I think we are close to a water source." Asjara is eager to delve further.

[Archemist]

"Indeed, I can smell it on my setae. And in the middle of the desert, too! Quite a lucrative treasure-find. Let's see where it leads."

[TurboGhast]

In what manner do you move forward? (Carefully, stealthily, etc.)

[ahyangyi]

Since there doesn't seem to be a light source other than the sunrod and none of us have darkvision (3 low-light vision and 1 normal vision), I don't think we can be extra stealthy against "spot" perception checks.

We can, of course, try to avoid making noises and be alert.

[Archemist]

Might make sense to still have the pixie lead so as to check for any tricky spots on the floor, but other than that, yeah, SSana||ona is better at jumping in to the fray than avoiding one.

[masteraleph]

Thorn moves forward, 6 feet or so in the air as usual. He's looking to see if anything looks odd- but given the freezing beetles and electric snakes, everything looks odd.

[ahyangyi]

Asjara follows Thorn, having again bound the sunrod to her shield.